Among the few early gripes against this model are that the camera comes without a flash and, again, that 158g is too bulky.
Panasonic GD88
Panasonic doesn't carry the same share of the mobile market that Sony Ericsson or Nokia do, but they nonetheless pack a powerful punch with their products. Case in point is the upcoming GD88, which many industry watchers believe will give the two models mentioned above a run for their money.
Part of their fear concerns the clamshell-style phone's screen, which takes up nearly the entire upper half of the phone and has 65,000 colors (compared to 4,000 colors on the Sony Ericsson or Nokia models), which is still nothing compared to Panasonic's P2101V, which has some 260,000 colors. Pity then that the built-in camera takes only 132x176 dpi-resolution photos compared to 640x480 on the Nokia 7650. At that resolution, you won't be able to properly view your photos on a computer screen.
A lesser model, the GD68, is also due to be released along with the GD88, later this year. It will offer many of the same features as the GD88, such as MMS capability and those cool polyphonic ring tones, but has only a 256-color screen and a much lower price tag.
Motorola A820
No review of mobile phones would be complete without looking at Motorola, who pioneered the gadgets back in the days when they were so bulky they could hardly be called mobile phones. However, Motorola's foray into the video phone market seems almost an after-thought for the company as its A820, while a solid phone, has failed to gather much pre-release attention.
The A820 has a built-in MP3 player, and is considerably lighter than most equivalent models. It also contains a global positioning system, but as it operates using a cellular bandwidth, it won't do you much good outside your service area, where you'd actually use it. Pre-release comments on the A820, as with all the above models, have been largely positive.
It must be said, however, that a video mobile phone won't do you much good unless a few of your friends have one as well, and with all these phones weighing into the market with price tags ranging upwards of US$700, they're not likely to revolutionize the way we use cell phones overnight. Unless you're hoping to get work reporting for CNN, it would be worth your while to wait.
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